Review: 'Total Recall' on 4K Ultra Might be Smaller Than You Remember

Do you remember when...

Once upon a time, the only way to truly experience a huge, blockbuster epic was to purchase a ticket at your local cineplex, load up at the concession stand, and hope that the perfect center seat (maximizing viewing distance and access to aisle) was available and unobstructed by someone with a poof-wild hairstyle (ah, the '90s)! We've come a long way since then. Thanks to vast improvements in home theater entertainment (which has been vastly tested in this age of quarantine), the theater is now in our living rooms.

In the 1990s the blockbuster had a very different look and feel, and Carolco was the studio at the center of it all, churning out hit after hit. Among one of its stars was Arnold Schwarzenegger. The brawny beefcake from Austria had made a name for himself in director James Cameron's landmark "The Terminator" and followed it up with several high octane action features, including "Total Recall," which has been "reimagined" for its 30th Anniversary release in 4K Ultra HD for the ultimate at-home movie-watching experience. Directed by Paul Verhoeven, "Total Recall" is a revealed as a product of its time.

Set in a not-so-distant future that seems behind our current digital age, the film introduces Schwarzenegger's strong man, an "every man's" Joe, who is rattled by nightmares of visits to the neighboring planet Mars. Looking to free himself of his nightmares (if for just a short while), he lands in a virtual reality-induced, twisted tale that reveals he is (possibly) a secret agent - and his sexy wife played by Sharon Stone in one of her early roles, is a deadly assassin. It isn't long before his cover is blown and Arnold is racing to get back to the "scene of the crime" on Mars, but he's got to smash a few skulls and dodge some deadly gunfire before reaching his goal.

"Total Recall" was a deliberately wild ride at the time, but the film lacks any stylistic interest, and the script is hardly even campy enough to be entertaining. For a film set in a future of 2084, it looks more like 1984 (even though it was originally released in 1990); that lack of vision, especially as other films like Tim Burton's "Batman" were already a part of the lexicon, meant that the film depended on set pieces that charged the imagination. "Total Recall" certainly has its moments, including the "fat lady" disguise and the "nose implant," touches that blew audiences away then, but wouldn't faze today's more sophisticated appetites.

The 4K Ultra HD restoration isn't all that spectacular. "Total Recall" at 30 looks grainy and dark, and the styrofoam and fiberglass backdrops look like – well, styrofoam and fiberglass. The boosted Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos soundtrack does a great service, though, to composer Jerry Goldsmith's score for the film. The disc does include several new documentary features, including a look inside the studio that released some of the '90s' biggest action flicks. Carolco was synonymous with big-budget blockbusters, and its stars, including Schwarzenegger were huge draws. The package also includes several "making of" featurettes.

"Total Recall" (30th Anniversary) is available now for the first time 4K Ultra HD for $22.99.